Electric cable connection



| D. M JILTON ET AL 2,738,989

ELECTRIC CABLE CONNECTION March 20, 1956 Filed May 2, 1955 A55 0. MCJ/TO/V 4654/60. ELS

IN V EN TORS.

Un t d m This invention relates to an electric cable connection for attachment to an outletbox, 'or to any wall that presents an opening at which the attachment of an electric cable is to be made.

As now constructed it is necessary for an electrician making such an attachment to tighten up several screws or bolts. This requires considerable time.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a simple construction for the parts of such a connection that will enable a single fastener associate'd'with the same to secure the cable end at an opening in the outletbox, or in any wall opening, or where such support attachment must be made. v

'A: further: object of the invention is to provide co-ordinated features of construction for the sleeve that carries the end of the cable sheath, and a bushing having a construction enabling thesame to 'be introduced into the opening at theinnersid'e of the wall; said *co-ordinating means enabling the single fastener when tightened up to clamp the inner'portion of the bushing againstthe inner face of the wall, and simultaneously to clamp the end of the sleeve that carries thesheath, against the outer face of the edge of the opening.

Further objects of the invention will be evident from a careful reading of the following specification and a study of the accompanying drawing. 1

The invention consists of theinovel parts and combinations ofparts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an efiicient electric cable connection.

A preferred embodiment "of the invention is described in the following specification, while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out in the appended claims.

in the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view illustrating an outletbox of common form and having a polygonal form, which enables it to present a number of faces at which openings are present, or canbe quickly formed to enable electric cable ends to be attached. disposed opposite to each .other and which embody our invention. This view represents the cover. of the outletbox removed so as to facilitate the disclosure of this c0 ection, l Q55 Figure 2 is a vertical section taken aboutgon the line 2-2 of Figure 1, and showing the detaiils of the coordinated features of the sleeve and the'ib'ushing that facilitate the'securing of the connection in placelin a boigwall as shown in section, 'but broken away. As will be noted; this view is upon a larger scale than Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view showing the lower half of an outletbox and illustrating an alternate embodiment of our invention which may be employed.

Figure 4 is a section upon an enlarged scale and taken in the plane of section line 44 of Figure 3. v

Figure 5 is a plan view with certain parts broken away, showing how the sleeve is aligned with the bushing when completing the attachment of the connection to the outletbox.

In this view two. connections-are illustrated 2,738,989 Patented Mar. 20, 1956 Referring more particularly to the parts, and especially to Figures 1 and 2, this connection includes a sleeve 1, which is formed at its outer end'with a socket 2 usually of cylindrical form, which receives the end of the sheath 3 of the cable. v

This sheath 3 is usually in the form of a metallic coil the wraps of which are friction tight on each other, but

which are flexible enough to enable the cable to be worked around corners when its direction must be changed. At an intermediate point in its length the sleeve is formed with a transverse wall with an opening 4 in it through which insulated conductors such as the two conductors 5 may bepassed when the end of the sheath 3s'eats upon the annular shoulder 6 adjacent the edge of the opening 4.

The bushing 7 is insertable through the opening 8 in the wall 9 of the outletbox 10. The body of this bushing 7 is, of course, slightly smaller than the diameter of the opening 8 so as to permit it to pass freely into the opening. On its inner end outwardly projecting means such as a collar 11 is provided, to seat against the inner face 12 of the wall 9.

This bushing and the sleeve are formed with correlated features having forms which enable a single fastener to cooperate with them to draw the sleeve against the wall 12 'after the bushing 7 has been inserted in the opening 8 from its inner side.

These features include an inclined extension or lug 13 integral with the body of the bushing 7 (see Figure 2),

and this lugextends'in a radial plane from the axis'of the bushing; and when the parts are in'position to be tightened up, this lug 13'lics between two spaced apart lugs 14 (see .Figure' l) which extend approximately in radial plane from the wall of the sleeve, 1

As indicated in Figure 1, these lugs 14 are separated from each other by a slot 15 undercut at its. sides and in this slot the lug 13 is received.

Also, in the slot '15 a, fastener-16is received, which in the present instance is in'the form of a threaded shank having a collar-fo m head 17. "'The threaded shank 16 is received in a threaded-socket 18 which is disposed on an inclined axis in the lug 13. 1

In the present instance the collar-form head 17 is in the form of a screw-head 19 the sideedge of which straddle, and seat against, the inclined faces 20 ofthe lugs 14.

(See Figure 1.)

- In assembling the sleeve 7 at the opening 8 the lug 1 is introduced through the opening first from the inner side; after it has passed beyond the adjacent edges of the opening 8 the sleeve is applied in a co-axial position so that' its forward end, or mouth' 21 becomes telescoped over the body of the bushing.

In order to do this, the undercut slot 15 must be in alignment with the lug 13, to enable the lug to pass into the undercut slot and between the lugs 14. When the lug 13 is passed into the slot 15 the fastener 16 may be actuallyinplace in its threaded socket 18, but with only aifew turnsof the thread in mesh. In other-word's, that is' to. s'ay, time may be savedjifthis screw-should be in the position in which it is indicated in dotted lines in Figure2. In this positionitshead 17 will'clear the outer end'faces' 22 of the 1ugs'14.

' iLAfter thesleeve has been tele'scoped over-the bushing a screw driver can then be used to screw-head 17 and the screw tightened up until the inner face of its head seats upon the inclined faces 20 of the lugs 14. Then as the screw is tightened up, the collar 11 .on the bushing 7 will be drawn firmly. against the inner face 12 of the wall 9, and at the same time the forward end face .24 of the sleeve will be closed firmly against the outer face of the wall 9.

Also, the forward end face 24 of the sleeve will be closed firmly against the outer face of the wall 9.

In order to hold the sheath 3 in place in its socket 2, we provide a set-screw which is also received in an inclined lug 26 on the outer side of the sleeve. When the set-screw is tightened up, its end engages one of the wraps of the coil that forms the sheath 3 and pushes its forward end against the shoulder 6 v The opening 7a in the bushing is of the same diameter as the opening 4 in the sleeve, and both of these openings are perfectly cylindrical so that they do not have any obstruction within their peripheral circle that might interfere with a snake" through the bushing if such an operation could become necessary after the bushing is in place.

in an outlet box.

In Figures 3 and 4 we illustrate an alternate form or embodiment of this invention in which, instead of using a fastener such as the screw 16,,we may employ a stud type of fastener 27 having a threaded stud 23 that is tightly seated in a threaded socket 29 in the bushing 30. The body of this stud 27 is disposed on an inclined axis as shown in Figure 4, and lies in the space between the two lugs 31. The tip of the inclined stud 27 is threaded to receive a nut 32 which seats against the inclined faces of the lugs.

This alternate form of the invention makes a satisfactory connection, but has a slight objection because the opening 34 through the bushing is slightly obstructed at one side On account of the fact that it may be necessary to thicken the wall of the bushing at the point where the threaded socket 29 is located.

In the outlet box illustrated, in the drawing, its back wall is provided with partly sheared discs 35 which are almost punched out, and hence the punching out can be readily completed, when desired, to enable connections such as ours to .be secured in any desired location in the back wall of the box. However, this forms no part of our invention. j j i The back wall is also provided with a plurality of small openings 36, pairs of which are located at different distances from the center or axis of the box. This facilitates securing the box to supports in different situations. Any two or all of these openings can be employed to receive fasteners for supporting the box.

Many other embodiments of this invention may be resorted to Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

We claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An electric cable connection for attaching a cable conduit to an outlet-box having a wall with an opening through it, including a bushing having a body capable of being inserted in said opening from the inside of the box, and having a collar to seat against the inner face of the wall adjacent said opening, a sleeve for carrying an electric conduit at its outer end, and having a mouth at its inner end, said bushing having a lug extending laterally therefrom, a fastener having a body connected to said lug and having a collar-form head projecting laterally from its body, said sleeve having a seat for said collar-form head; all of said parts cooperating when said fastener is tightened up, to draw said sleeve against the outer face of said wall and seat said collar. against the inner face of said wall.

2. An electric cable connection for attaching an electric conduit to an outlet box, according to claim 1, in which the said fastener includes a thread connection to said collar-form part; said fastener operating when the collarform is rotated, to effect the movement that clamps the bushing and the sleeve to the box wall.

3. An electric cable connection for attaching an electric conduit to an outlet box, according to claim 1, in which the said fastener is disposed with its axis inclined to the axis of the bushing; and also includes a thread connection so that by rotating the said collar-form head of the fastener the sleeve will be advanced along its axis to seat its mouth against the box Wall, and pull the collar of the bushing against the inner face of the box-wall.

4. An electriccable connection for attaching a cable conduit to an outlet-box having a wall with an opening through it, the combination of a bushing having a body to fit into said opening from the inside of the box and having a collar seating against the inner face of the wall, said bushing having a lug extending laterally and in an inclined direction converging toward the axis of the bushing at said wall, a sleeve having a mouth at its inner end to telescope over the body of said bushing and having a pair of lugs spaced to receive the first named lug between the same, said pair of lugs presenting a divided seat face adjacent to the end of said first named lug, and a fastener having a threaded shank having a threaded connection into the first named lug and having a head integral with the said shank to permit spanning the divided seat when tightened and operating to pull the mouth of the sleeve against an outer face of the box wall and the pulling of the bushing against the box wall.

5. An electric cable connection according to claim 4, including a socket for receiving the sheath of the cable, and threaded means mounted in the wall of said socket for securing the ends of the sheath with the same.

6. An electric cable connection according to claim 4, including a socket formed in the'outer end of said sleeve having an annular shoulder and an opening at said shoulder substantially co-axial with the axis of the bushing, said socket capable of receiving the metallic sheath 7 of the conduit, and an inclined threaded socket formed on having a pair of spaced apart lugs, the outer portions of said lugs presenting inclinedfaces respectively, constituting a divided seat; and a fastener having a shank lying in the space between said lugssecured at its inner end to the bushing, and a nut threaded to the outer end of said shank and seating on said divided seat when tightened up on the thread, and operating to seat the mouth of the sleeve against the outer face of the said wall and pull the collar ofthe bushing against the inner face of the box wall.

ReferencesCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 936,886 Hannold Oct. 12, 1909 2,219,014 Madden Oct. 22, 1940 2,566,069 Ells et a1. Aug. 28, 1951 

